Nodularia

Nodularia is a genus of filamentous nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae. They occur mainly in brackish or salinic waters, such as the hypersaline Makgadikgadi Pans, the Peel-Harvey Estuary in Western Australia or the Baltic Sea. Nodularia cells occasionally form heavy algal blooms. Some strains produce a cyanotoxin called nodularin R, which is harmful to humans.

Nodularia
Satellite image of a large bloom of Nodularia swirling in the Baltic Sea
Scientific classification
Domain: Bacteria
Phylum: Cyanobacteria
Class: Cyanophyceae
Order: Nostocales
Family: Aphanizomenonaceae
Genus: Nodularia
Mertens 1822
Species

Nodularia armorica
Nodularia harveyana
Nodularia sphaerocarpa
Nodularia spumigena

The type species for the genus is Nodularia spumigena Mertens ex Bornet & Flahault, 1886.

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